DIEP 2015

Sassy01

Moreenna, I only had two removed on the prophylactic side. 10 sounds pretty excessive "to get to vessels". The 11 on the left did me in as well. My arm blows up with the smallest things. I wear a sleeve a lot of the time. I have myself on an every other week LE massage to drain my arm. Good luck with PT. It really helps!

jmb5

OVienna, I whined and complained every second of having to wear the binder and compression after the DIEP, and again when I had 2 stage 2 surgeries. I hated it, but I did it, and it helped keep the swelling down and let me heal. You can do it!!

Morwenna, I had the sentinel node removed from both sides. My BS talked to me about it before surgery and said taking the sentinel node on the prophylactic side was my choice. She said there was a less than 1% chance of cancer in that side, but if they don't take the sentinel node before the mastectomy, and then discover there's cancer, I would be looking at a complete lymph node dissection. I went back and forth, even the night before surgery, but in the end decided to check the sentinel node on that side. I was glad I did since I ended up with Paget's Disease on the "healthy" side.

mefromcc

The written instructions I got for my surgery said no bras, only camis for at least 3 weeks, and just a recommendation for high waist bike shorts or compression panties. I have trouble pulling tight under garments up due to arthritic hands. Based on other threads I have read, I bought a flexees waist nipper that has hooks. Hope that will work.

Seven days to go - it's scheduled for next Thursday. Arghh.!

WalleGator

Morwenna - Will you please move my surgery to March 13? Darn docs office...moved it forward, and now it's back again. I feel like I'm just waiting around for it to happen! The good news is they're going to take my port out at the same time. Killing 2 birds... really dislike the thing. Uncomfortable often.

Morwenna

WalleGator, Done!

Sorry they are screwing you around so much. This is stressful enough without that!

LAstar

I'm almost home! My family and I drove from Charleston to Atlanta yesterday then flew to Portland today. We are driving the last two hours home. We came out for a two-week uni-DIEP and are coming home after 3 weeks consisting of the flu and two surgeries. My PS left my second stomach flap until it was apparent that my DIEP would survive, then I had a second surgery to remove the unneeded flap. Needless to say, we are exhausted and excited to be home soon. I'm going to curl up in my bed and watch a movie. I hope everyone is healing and resting well!

LiLi-RI

LAstar: Happy you are done and almost home! Rest, rest and rest! Lil

mefromcc

Good going LAStar!

OVienna

wow, congratulations LAStar. Enjoy your well-deserved rest. All that travel (and flu) on top of everything else?? You are made of sturdy stuff

NTL

Thank You jmb5 and Morwenna your right there is no tmi here. My double mastectomy is on Feb.25 and I am not having reconstruction done right now. After hearing everybody I really like the idea of DIEP. Unfortunately, I don't feel comfortable with my PS. He is trying to push me to get implants and assures me that it is safe, but I am not that comfortable about it. There are not a lot of PS here in Peoria, so when everything is done I will have to look around Chicago or Los Angeles. Any suggestion? I live in IL and I have family in CA so I will be looking in those places.

LAstar

Thanks for the good wishes, 2015 DIEP sisters!

Good for you, NTL, for "going with your gut, " so to speak. Dr. Marga Massey operates out of Chicago part of the year and I can heartily recommend her as a skilled surgeon and a wonderful care-giver. She really gets it, and I am completely impressed with her work only 2 weeks out.

Trvler

NTL: If you are willing to come to Chicago area, Dr. Fenner gets rave reviews from everyone around here. I have consulted with him once. I was considering have the DIEP but my BS is pushing me to get a lumpectomy so now I am confused. If you need anything else regarding him, feel free to ask.

Sassy01

NTL, check out Dr. Marga Massey. I've heard wonderful things about her from several people. She operates in Chicago, Charleston, New Orleans, and SLC. Her website is drmarga.com.

OVienna

NTL- I am very happy with Dr. Crisera at UCLA. I feel incredibly fortunate that he's my surgeon

Hopkins2015

Hi,

In 2000 I was diagnosed with DCIS and had a lumpectomy, radiation and 5 years of tamoxifen. Then on Jan 9, 2015 I was diagnosed with IDC. I have a mastectomy and DIEP flap surgery scheduled on March 25. Since that was so far off I had a lumpectomy done on Jan 15. Lymph node was negative. I have been so tired since then even though I returned to work on Feb 2. I went to a support group at work (Hopkins) and felt worse after. I think it was just nerves but I had a panic attack that night, heart burn and was hyperventilating. I have to have a bopisy on the other breast tomorrow and then wait 6 weeks for surgery. Waiting is the worst and I am not a patient patient so this tiredness is aggravating to me.

Karen

Dlia

Julieho, you had infections after this surgery? I did have infection too,the anitbiotics were so strong that it messed up my kidneys. That's one of the reasons the ps wants me to take the implants out because he is concerned about infection.

Did the surgeon or ps ever tell any of you ladies that any time you have dental work done to take antibiotics before and after and not to eat hot house tomatoes?

julieho

Dlia,

I am instructed to take antibiotics before dental work. I have not heard anything about hot house tomatoes? What is the concern with those?

Julieho

Lolis197138

Hi,

I am seeing my PS tomorrow to discuss my recon options, I am about 4 months out of radiation. I am thinking to do DIEP. 

I keep reading stage 1 and stage 2 surgery, silly question, what does it entail? 

Also, I wasn't told to take antibiotics if I had any dental work. Is this because of out immune system being weak? Were you told to continue this practice for the rest of your life? 

LAstar

Lolis, no silly questions here! Stage 1 is generally the tissue-transfer process. In stage 2, symmetry is achieved through fat grafting from lipo, incisions are tidied up, and skin issues like "dog ears" are removed. Stage 1 recovery tends to take 4 to 6 weeks but stage 2 is more like 2-4 weeks.

Sassy01

Dlia, that's interesting. I've never heard about the antibiotics prior to dental work after this type of surgery. I'm wondering if it's got something to do with the vessel transplanting? My son had heart surgery and had to do that before teeth cleaning, but the American Heart Assoc changed that and removed the recommendation....

mefromcc

I used to do the pre-dental antibiotics because I have two incompetent heart valves, but my dentist several years ago said it was no longer recommended because you release just as many bacteria into your blood stream when you floss your teeth into your gums. I'll go along with my dentist recommendations for teeth before my PS because you tend to be more up to date in your own field.

NTL

Thank You for your suggestions!!

emusmummy

Hi all! Brand new to the site and just looking for others with similar experiences post-op to give me piece of mind. On January 9th, 2015 I underwent DIEP flap reconstruction on the left side, delayed after unilateral mastectomy, with surgery on the right for symmetry. The "girls" are healing fabulously, as is the belly button. However, the abdominal flap only partially healed through primary intention. I'm four weeks out and still have one JP drain, and a stubborn portion of my abdominal incision that looks gross, but I'm told is healing through secondary intention the way it should. Just wondering if others had JP drains this long, and if anyone else has had to deal with an incision that didn't heal with just the steristrips. Also, just in general curious about pain-duration, strength, location, etc. Anything related to the healing process really. Last drain should be removed tomorrow, finally. Then it's just the daily wet-to-dry dressing changes on the 'non-healing' wound as they call it. Any discussion is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Morwenna

Bum. I've hit a speed bump!

I'm 5 weeks post surgery now, and my tummy and right boob are well healed. My left has a small patch that is healing slowly, but doesn't seem infected. It's just delayed due to irradiated tissue.

I was finding my lack of stamina a major problem, and get short of breath walking anything near normal cruising speed. I also had a suspicion of tenderness in my calf muscles, so today I thought I better admit this to my PT when I saw her, and of course she's on it like a ton of bricks.

Upshot is I spent the rest of the day at the Urgent Care Center, having blood tests, chest Xray and CT and a heparin jab, and tomorrow have an ultrasound to both legs and another appt to get my results. Seems they think it's a recurrence of my dvt/pe issues I had during chemotherapy in 2013.

I thought I'd got away with it.

My hematologist told me back in November that if I clot again I'll have to stay on anticoagulants.

Sad.

mefromcc

Oh no, emusmommy and morwenna! Sorry to hear 😞 of the speed bumps! Especially when my DIEP is Thursday!

Of course, I have not made it complications free from the lumpectomy (stich abcess and partial wound separation), or BMX (seromas, last two drained 8 days ago). But we all hope we can get through a surgical event without additional problems, right?

LAstar

Morweena, I'm glad your people are on it and hope nothing more comes of it. I know it must be a drag to have a setback so close to the 6 week all-clear mark.

Emusmummy, I hope you get that drain out today! I hear a lot about the abdominal incisions taking their time to heal.

Dlia

I hope you all will be here when its my time whenever that is the weightvwas going fast now it seems to be at a standstill.

Trvler

I am strongly considering DIEP and I am wondering if there are always two stages? I hope it's ok for a non member of the group to ask a question here.

Ridley

Trvler -- ask away -- I think most women have two stages because there is some tweaking that needs to be done once the reconstructed breasts "settle" and for nipple reconstruction (unless you are able to have nipple sparing.)

I had a second surgery to 1) revise some scars (I had some stitches removed after stage 1 because they would not dissolve and the scars were thick in a couple of areas), 2) extend my ab incision to get rid of a couple what I referred to as "mini-muffins" as the end of each side, and 3) fat grafting to try and achieve some better symmetry.

I'm having one more surgery at the end of March to 1) reconstruct nipples and 2) try fat grafting again (most of the fat from the first try re-absorbed.)

Good luck with your decision -- no regrets on my part.

Morwenna

CT showed multiple small clots throughout all areas of both lungs.

Pretty fed up today. I knew I was high risk for thromboembolism, but hoped I'd be OK. I know my GP thought I was nuts to risk it, but honestly, if any of my surgeons or anesthesiologists, or my hematologist had advised against it, I would probably not have put myself through this.

We all know it is more than "vanity" to want to feel whole again, but now I'm going to be on anticoagulants for the rest of my life. Today is not the day to ask me "was it worth it?"